WLD Token Inflation Slows as Sam Altman's World Cuts Daily Unlock Rate

World’s WLD token unlock rate is set to decrease by 43% on July 24, 2026, cutting the daily release of tokens nearly in half under schedules already written into immutable onchain contracts.

Tokenomics update: daily emissions fall across all allocations

The reduction affects all four stakeholder allocations. Community tokens will unlock at 1.6 million WLD per day, down from 3.2 million (a 50% cut). Team and investor tokens from Tools for Humanity (TFH) will drop from 1.9 million per day to 1.3 million (a 32% reduction). Combined, the total unlock rate falls from approximately 5.1 million to approximately 2.9 million WLD per day.

Current supply status

As of April 10, 2026, 4.9 billion WLD tokens are unlocked, representing 49% of the 10 billion total supply. Of that amount, 3.3 billion are currently in circulation.

Background on WLD distribution and vesting structure

World launched on July 24, 2023, as Worldcoin, co-founded by Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI) alongside Alex Blania and Max Novendstern. The project rebranded to World in October 2024, coinciding with the debut of World Chain, a dedicated layer two (L2) blockchain built on Ethereum.

At launch, 75% of the total WLD supply was allocated to the World Community, with the remaining 25% distributed among the TFH team, TFH investors, and a small TFH Reserve. Of the 10 billion tokens, 500 million from the community allocation were unlocked at launch. The remaining 9.5 billion were placed on continuous daily unlock schedules, with the final tranche set to unlock 15 years from the launch date.

In July 2024, a majority of team and investor tokens were placed under additional extended lock-ups while remaining on a daily unlock schedule. The extended vesting stretched from a three-year horizon to five years, intended to prevent concentrated sell pressure as early allocations matured.

How the July 2026 change will occur

The July 24, 2026 unlock rate decrease will happen automatically, as it is coded into the onchain contracts from the start. There are no unlock cliffs: tokens have been released daily since launch, and that structure continues after the rate adjustment.

Reserve and timeline for remaining unlocks

The TFH Reserve holds approximately 1.2 billion tokens that remain unallocated. If those tokens are formally assigned to a specific purpose before the July 2026 date, the impact on the unlock rate could change.

The World community unlock schedule extends to July 2038, marking the end of the 15-year distribution window. Investor and team token unlocks are expected to conclude around 2028 or 2029, depending on the specific allocation category.

Utility of WLD

WLD is the network’s native utility token. Holders can participate in governance votes on protocol upgrades and resource allocation. In select regions, WLD functions as a payment method inside the World App. Verified users have historically received a welcome grant of approximately 25 WLD along with recurring monthly grants.